About WER

What is Women’s Elite Rugby?

Elite Women’s club rugby in England began in a league format in 1986. This competition became known as the Women’s Premiership at the turn of the century, and continues to pride itself on providing the highest level of women’s club rugby union in the world.

The Women’s Premiership Group formed in 2012 with the prime aim of safeguarding the welfare of players and creating a consistently high quality player experience.

Who am I?

My name is John ‘Max’ Maxwell and I am the MD of RuckinRugby, a website design and hosting company focused on all things Rugby. Rugby is a huge part of my life and after meeting Catherine Spencer some years ago, I became interested in the women’s game at the highest level. The World Champion team of 2014 were something very special and I immediately became aware of how important our domestic game would become in maintaining the sort of national side that I, and many others love to watch. This inspired me to do whatever I can to promote Women’s Elite Rugby in England.

2017 and the Premier15s

This season saw a big change in the top tiers of women’s domestic rugby in England. 40 Clubs were invited to claim a place in the newly formed (and RFU backed) Premier15s League, to replace the Women’s Premiership. 10 were successful and controversially, Lichfield Ladies we not one of them – their place being taken by a brand new club the Loughborough Lightning. You can read more on that here.

2017 and WER

This new 2017-18 Season has just me running the WER (Women’s Elite Rugby) Website, Twitter and Instagram. I have added all the clubs, fixtures and league tables and extended the coverage to 2 Tiers – covering the Premier15s, Championship 1 North and Championship 1 South – 26 clubs in all.

However, some credit must go to Rhi Chandler-Day for the massive boost she gave to our Social Media following during her involvement last season.

Get involved

I built this website and social media brand to increase recognition in the women’s game, but in order to really make the most of it – I need buy in and input from the clubs and teams at all levels. Please send me your stories, photos and videos and I will always do what I can to share them far and wide.

I also do whatever I can to help out those involved with using rugby as a tool to help develop and support young girls generally, around the world. See our story from Uganda and look up the Jungle Crows in India to see everything they do through the KHELO Rugby Development Programme.